Stews have been around almost nearly as long as humans have been cooking. All you need is a vessel to hold your ingredients and water and a means of heating that vessel. It can be as simple as a leather bag with stones heated in a fire dropped into it. So stews were almost certainly prepared during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, if not earlier. Once you have clay or metal pots you can prepare stews next to or set directly over a fire. Stews are low-maintenance cookery, generally not requiring that the cooking pot be observed continuously. The slow cooking is also ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat (neck, shin, tail etc). As these also tend to be the most flavoursome parts of animals, this also means that stews can be extremely flavourful. Stews also pair well with the local staple: potatoes, rice, bread, yams, cassava etc.

Even in hunter-gatherer societies stews are useful in that the slow cooking can make the most of tough meat and it can be combined with foraged grains, leafy greens, nuts and starchy tubers to yield a flavourful, low maintenance and nutritious meal. With the advent of agriculture almost all grains are amenable to stewing and combining grains and legumes in a stew provides a ready way to gain all the essential amino acids that humans (particularly children) require.

The boiling process of making stews also helps sterilize the ingredients, killing harmful bacteria and viruses. It can also help neutralize harmful chemicals, such as the cyanogenic compounds in bitter cassava and helps reduce bitterness in leafy greens, making the food both safer to eat and more palatable. The addition of flavouring ingredients (fruit, spices, herbs) during the cooking process can also alter the flavours of stews, making them more palatable and more appealing. This is particularly the case when adding components with high umami content (certain fish, seaweed, cruciferous vegetables, beans, soy sauce, mushrooms etc).

It is little wonder that, taken globally, the list of stews presented on this site is a long one.

Some stews border on soups and the definition of whether a dish is a soup or a stew. A good example of this is Welsh cawl which can be served with more liquid as a soup or can be thickened as a stew and served with bread and/or potatoes. Most curries, due to their long, slow cooking and blend of ingredients can also be considered a subtype of stew.

Pretty much every culture on earth has a classic stew that's a major part of its cultural culinary repertoire. I have viewed and collected recipes for many of these on my travels. These and other classic stews from around the world are collected and presented here.

The alphabetical list of all the stew recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 1816 recipes in total:

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Aurangabadi Naan Qaliya      Origin: India	Barley Kail      Origin: Scotland	Bengali Turkey Curry      Origin: Britain
Australian Camel Stew      Origin: Australia	Baru Fida (Spinach Sauce with Peanuts and Beef Shank)      Origin: Guinea	Benin Red Sauce      Origin: Benin
Awaze Tibs (Ethiopian Beef and Peppers)      Origin: Ethiopia	Basto and Suugo      Origin: Somalia	Beninese Beef Stew      Origin: Benin
Ayam Bumbu Rujak (Chicken with Rujak Gravy)      Origin: Indonesia	Basto and Suugo      Origin: Djibouti	Beninese Goat Stew      Origin: Benin
Ayam Masak Lemak (Spicy Fenugreek Meat)      Origin: Malaysia	Batabate      Origin: Mayotte	Beninese Jollof Rice      Origin: Benin
Ayam Masak Lemak (Chicken in Creamy Coconut)      Origin: Malaysia	Batak Raichat (Duck Raichat)      Origin: India	Beriani      Origin: Brunei
Ayimonlou (Togolese Rice and Beans)      Origin: Togo	Bayrisch Kraut (Pickled Bavarian Cabbage)      Origin: Germany	Berkoukes      Origin: Algeria
Ayimonlou et N'gbagba (Togolese Rice and Beans with N'gbagba)      Origin: Togo	Bean and Wild Mushroom Stew      Origin: Britain	Betaceos Varronis (Beets à la Varro)      Origin: Roman
Azindéssi aux Boeuf (Beef in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Togo	Bean Foogath      Origin: India	Betas (Beetroot with Leeks in Wine)      Origin: Roman
Baamiye Suqaar (Meat and Okra Stew)      Origin: Somalia	Bean Goulash with Beef      Origin: Czech	Betas Minutas et Porros (Young Beetroot and Leeks)      Origin: Roman
Bacalao a la Crema de Espárragos y Pimientos (Salt Cod with Cream of Asparagus and Peppers)      Origin: Spain	Beans and Bananas      Origin: Burundi	Bhuna Khichuri      Origin: Bangladesh
Bachalu à Gomes (Salt Cod with Potatoes)      Origin: Angola	Beans Gravy      Origin: Liberia	Big Bowl Chili      Origin: American
Baekse Karē (Korean Curry Rice)      Origin: Korea	Beans With Rum      Origin: Montserrat	Birch Sap and Cleavers Risotto      Origin: Britain
Bagobe Jwa Lerotse (Sorghum Porridge with Cooking Melons)      Origin: Botswana	Bébélé (Tripe and Plantain Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Biscuit-topped Lamb Casserole      Origin: America
Bahamian Crab and Rice      Origin: Saint Barthelemy	Beef and Coconut Cream Curry      Origin: Fusion	Bisort Bolognese      Origin: Fusion
Bahamian Lobster Curry      Origin: Bahamas	Beef and Dhal Curry      Origin: India	Black Beans      Origin: Mexico
Baianas (Baian Beans)      Origin: Roman	Beef and Green Tomato Jalfrezi      Origin: Fusion	Blaff de poisson (Fish Blaff)      Origin: Guadeloupe
Bajan Curry Powder      Origin: Barbados	Beef and Mushroom Tshoem      Origin: Bhutan	Blaff de poisson (Fish Blaff)      Origin: French Guiana
Bajan Pepperpot      Origin: Barbados	Beef and Mushrooms in Peanut Sauce      Origin: Central African Republic	Blancs de Poulet au Gingembre et à la Cardamome (Chicken Breasts with Ginger and Cardamom)      Origin: Madagascar
Bakeapple Chicken Curry      Origin: Canada	Beef and Stout Stew      Origin: Ireland	Blank Dessorre      Origin: England
Baked Beans with Nigerian Seasonings      Origin: African Fusion	Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes      Origin: South Africa	Blanquette de Porc (Pork in White Sauce)      Origin: France
Baked Parsnips Irish Style      Origin: Ireland	Beef Cameroon      Origin: Cameroon	Bo Kho (Spicy Beef Stew)      Origin: Vietnam
Baked Tilapia with Pineapple and Black Beans      Origin: Costa Rica	Beef in Bistort Leaves      Origin: Britain	Bobor Taro (Taro Root Pudding)      Origin: Cambodia
Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Aruba	Beef in Bitter      Origin: Britain	Boerwors Maalvleis Kerrie (Boerwors Minced Meat Curry)      Origin: South Africa
Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Bonaire	Beef in Claret      Origin: Scotland	Boeuf aux Chocolat Gabonnaise (Beef with Gabon Chocolate)      Origin: Gabon
Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Curacao	Beef in Stout      Origin: Ireland	Boeuf Bourguignon      Origin: France
Balchão de Camarão (Goan Prawn Pickle)      Origin: India	Beef in the Burmese Style      Origin: Fusion	Boeuf et Feuilles de Manioc (Beef and Cassava Greens in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Gabon
Balti Chicken Pasanda      Origin: Britain	Beef Madras      Origin: India	Boiled Beef and Carrots      Origin: Britain
Bamia (Okra in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Egypt	Beef Picadillo      Origin: Dominican Republic	Boiled Ham      Origin: Britain
Banana and Corn Casserole      Origin: eSwatini	Beef Rendang      Origin: Indonesia	Boko Boko Harees (Chicken with Bulgur Wheat)      Origin: Burundi
Banana Stobá (Stewed Plantains)      Origin: Curacao	Beef with Paprika and Potatoes      Origin: Ireland	Boletos Aliter (Boletes, Another Way II)      Origin: Roman
Banankou Fida (Sokossoko with Kidneys)      Origin: Guinea	Belizean Rice and Beans      Origin: Belize	Bolo and Trotter Potjie      Origin: Namibia
Bangladeshi Goat Curry      Origin: Bangladesh	Bengali Chicken Curry      Origin: India
Barkly Mount Eagle Madras Curry      Origin: Scotland	Bengali Fish Curry      Origin: India

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